Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers / Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat

The Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers / Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat (Portuguese: Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses / Movimento Reorganizativo do Partido do Proletariado or PCTP/MRPP [It is pronounced IPA2|pɐɾ'tidu kumu'niʃtɐ duʃ tɾɐbɐʎɐ'doɾɨʃ puɾtu'gezɨʃ / muvi'mẽtu ʁiɔɾgɐnizɐ'tivu du pɐɾ'tidu du pɾulɨtɐɾi'adu.] ) is a Maoist political party in Portugal founded in 1970. In voting ballots its name appears as Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers, omitting the second part of the name; however its acronym remains unchanged. Its first secretary-general was Arnaldo Matos.

Originally called MRPP only, the party's political orientation has been Maoist since its foundation. In 1971, still during the conservative and authoritarian dictatorship led by Marcello Caetano, the party started issuing a newspaper called "Luta Popular" (People's Struggle). The party was one of the most active resistance movements before the Portuguese democratic revolution of 1974, especially amongst the students of Lisbon. After the revolution, the MRPP achieved fame for its large and highly artistic mural paintings. It kept a very intense activity during the years of 1974 and 1975. At this time, the party had members that later came to be of high importance in national politics, for example, José Manuel Durão Barroso and Fernando Rosas, who left the party in the meantime. The party, however, never managed to elect a single MP in legislative elections.

During the revolutionary period of 1974 and 1975, the MRPP was accused (mainly by Portuguese Communist Party) of working for the CIA - it was getting to a certain level of misconfort, because of its strength in society. A belief that was fueled by the cooperation between MRPP and the Socialist Party against the communist way defended by Portuguese Communist Party.

In 1976, the party changed its name to Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers and it was then that it started to use the acronym PCTP/MRPP. Its historical leaders are Arnaldo Matos and Saldanha Sanches, the latter of whom directed the "Luta Popular" newspaper. Its current leader is Garcia Pereira.

The party's youth wing, now extinct, was the Marxist-Leninist Students Federation.

Notes

ee also

* Politics of Portugal
* List of political parties in Portugal
* Carnation Revolution
* Marxist-Leninist Students Federation
* Maoism

External links

* [http://www.pctpmrpp.org Homepage of PCTP/MRPP] pt icon